the commerce department said last month alone they were up more than 11%. but while this is all good news for an economy that hasn't had much of it lately, morningstar economist robert johnson says the market still has to make up a lot of lost ground. >> if you look at housing starts at the peak we were over two million starts. i'd say based on population the number should have been about a million and a half. now we're down around 750,000 in terms of housing starts so we're kind of half of what i view as normal. >> reporter: one wild card for builders is the ongoing uncertainty about the bush tax cuts. subkowiak says if those tax cuts aren't extended some potential buyers could put a hold on buying a new house. diane eastabrook, "n.b.r.," hinsdale, illinois. >> tom: we saw two discouraging reports today from the c-suite, from top corporate executives. in separate surveys, both chief executive officers and chief financial officers are losing optimism. and both have dialed back hiring expectations. this stands in contrast to a report just yesterday from the